Cycling

My favorite Tour de France moment was in 1989 when Greg LeMond managed to come from 50 seconds behind Long Feng Yong to win the Tour De France by 8 seconds. It was a great race and watching my friend Paul Hold calling the final stage perfectly and seeing Greg LeMond leap for joy with tears of happiness on one side and Long Feng Yong lying on the roadside in sadness as he lost the tour, was an incredible moment.
 
Transcript: "Hi Eduardo. Well, thanks for your question. I think I've told this before on the on the website here, but I have to say my outstanding favorite Tour de France, of course. And my greatest moment, I guess was in 1989, poor showing my Lake co-commentator and best mate who passed away in December 2018. He was a pretty much a rookie as a CO commentator in those days, but he called the last stage which was the time trial from Versailles outside. The Alice onto the shown Solis a perfectly. It was when in fact Greg lemond that was second overall at the start of that final stage 24 km time trial, 50 seconds behind Long Feng Yong who looks certain to win in the time. Trial. It had been a great race right. Throughout every day. They swap the yellow Jersey around, they each won stages and it was just one of those tours with the story, all the way. A along the line, but on that last day and laughing you're not allowed to use his makeshift. Arrow bars was Greg lemond was able to get away with his lemond recovered that 50 seconds and he ran out the winner of the Tour by eight seconds. And I think that was calculated about 100 meters from the line after something like five or 6000 km well near a 5006 of course, but Paul, Hold it, right. He worked out the games, every every kilometer. And by the time we got down to the Finish, I remember shouting having earlier in the day recorded, an opening with Paul discussing, who would win the Tour. I look back a camera and said, I think Greg lemond will win the Tour by 6 seconds and on the drive after that because that was transmitted by satellite to the London Studios, ready for the live calls some hours later in the day. Day, we were riding back to for a coffee on the champs-elysees. And Paul said to me, what do you say that for? I said, well, of course vignerons going to win the Tour, but if you weren't a win the Tour it wouldn't be very very much, would it? So I've gone for six seconds. Well, on the night, of course, it was eight seconds. And as I said, I can't believe this but Greg lemond has won the Tour De France by eight seconds and that the key went over in London into my ear. From the producer who simply said, next time Liggett, get it bloody. Right? So I burst into tears and I had Greg, lemond leaping for Joy with tears of happiness, on my left and on my right the sad, sorry sight of long thin, Ian lying on the roadside and he was in tears of sadness, having lost the Tour de France. But if you Lawrence once said to me, you know, people used to go to me said, oh, you're the guy who lost the Tour de France. By eight seconds. He said, no, I'm the guy who won the Tour de France, twice. As of course. He did. Best of luck to you Eduardo."

Paul, a friend of mine who passed away in December 2018, wanted me to go on a Safari with him in Africa. We eventually did and while driving through the Samburu National Park, we got a flat tire. Paul insisted on changing the tire right away, despite the heavy rain. We were delayed and when we moved around the corner, we had a wonderful sighting of a cheetah with two cubs. This moment made me laugh from dawn till dusk, every single day I had with Paul.
 
Transcript: "Christiaan Van de Velde. What's my best? Poor showing story? I realize it must be hard. You say to narrow it down to just one. Yeah. Well, how about 10 million and then we'll get started? My goodness. Me, the, the, anybody that's met Porsha and certainly, as most of us, know, we passed away in December. 2018. I worked with him for 33 years, alongside me. I brought him into the business. We became siamese twins for sure. But Paul was always after me and also growing what's in the great cycling photographer, who tied? It retired a couple years ago. He wanted us both to go on Safari in the cache. As you know, Africa is in my blood. It's certainly important blood because he lived in Uganda who spoke the local languages and and that's what he was settling down. And so he wanted to show his, I'm in the north east of South Africa which is full of lions and leopards and stuff. And he says, That's not Africa made, you got to go to real Africa and that's Uganda or Kenya. It's okay. We give up Graham and I decided we take our or opposites and we go and have a holiday with Paul and his wife and his mother-in-law. And so he got his Range Rover vehicles, sorted out, everything going great. Plotted a fabulous trip stains with the most amazing lodges. Okay. We're having a great time. Then we were somewhere south of the Ethiopian border, think it was and it absolutely poured down with rain, entering the samburu National Park. And rain was turning a desert into a flood pan. It was that heavy and Paul suddenly goes we got a flat tire. I said, Paul. This is the only a really heavy shower, give you five minutes and we're all out there. He says we need to do it. Now. I said, why do we do it? Now? This is when his mother-in-law who has sat in the front seat setting pole. She came from the southern states of the USA. Paul. This is when you realize that your friends are really, you're paying guests. I think you're by yourself. I said, I think she's right. Paul. If you wait five minutes. It will already he says you'll all be sitting on one side and a moment when I jack the car up and he had a huge Jack and we were at 45 degrees to the ground. Paul change the tire with his shirt off. The ring was quite warm. And, and he got back in job, done tire change. And it was still raining seconds later. It wasn't raining. See, Paula Told You. So, you're a man of Africa. Look at that can't even wait for the rain to stop. The only good thing about the flat tire was, we were delayed. And We moved on. And when we came around the next Corner, about half a mile away, there was a cheater with two Cubs on the road, enjoying a now drying conditions, and watching this, oryx teaser andorians, have these like one meter high Longhorns, and is twisting his luck. And in the end she charged him and got rid of him and left us with the two kids. So we had a wonderful sighting of cheater. But Paul. Well, as he made me laugh From Dawn till Dusk Everyday of my time with him. I better stop now. Nice and speak to Christian."

It is too early to say who will win the Tour de France this year, but it looks like young rider Pogacar will be the man to beat. There are also contenders such as Wout van Aert and Mark Cavendish, and veteran riders such as Peter Sagan who could make a return. Ineos have had a setback with Egan Bernal's injury, so they will have to restructure their Tour de France setup. Overall, it looks like we are in for an exciting year of cycling.
 
Transcript: "Well, I'd water, that's a tough question at this time of the year. I'm sat here in the UK where it's pretty chilly outside. And most of the top bike riders are somewhere in Spain or Colombia or trying to get a few warmer miles in. Now we've had the problem with Egan. I suspect he won't be riding the tour now, sadly. The tour is wide open, of course. Pogacar is going to be the man to beat, obviously for the overall. But there are candidates. We might see the emergence of people like Wout van Aert as well who can do so well in so many different disciplines of the Tour de France-- time trial, climb. And he can sprint when he wants to. You've got Mark Cavendish, one of my favorite bike riders. I hope he continues what he started again last year. He'll have another crack at the tour, I'm sure, and maybe go one better than Eddy Merckx's stage win record, although it's not a target of Mark's. I think it'll be an interesting tour. We're starting in Denmark. I haven't been there for the last two years because we've done it from London live into the USA. But hopefully, I will be on the Tour de France this year when it gets away from Denmark and comes through to Paris. It's too early to say. I'd be pulling names out the hat. I'd like to see Peter Sagan go one more time. He's got his new team with him. And I'd like to see him become animated just once more on the tour. But the names like that, the guys are getting older, the youngsters are coming through. It's too early to see the arrival of somebody like Tom Pidcock, who is going to probably miss the Tour de France this year, but he's a guy to watch for the future as well. Ineos are smarting from being beaten. And I reckon that now they've got the problem without Egan. They'll have to restructure their Tour de France setup. But they still, of course, such a brilliant team with depth, they'll still be a team to reckon with for the overall. Let's see how the early season unfolds. There have already been surprises with the one-day races in Mallorca. We've had some names, but this is often the case. And then as the season warms up and the other guys get fitted with their targets in mind, the results will start to change. But even so, I think we're in for a very, very good year-- back to normal, I hope."

To manage being a father, husband, and professional athlete, I keep things as simple as possible, do one thing at a time, and enlist the help of my family and friends to ensure that I can focus on the task at hand. Finding the right balance is critical for success.
 
Transcript: "Hi. That's a really good question. I also sometimes struggle to be all topics, get this sometimes challenging life to be a father, a husband, a provider, and having a lot of other things also to do. But yeah, I am lucky. I have a lot of good people around me that are helping me to actually keep everything as simple as possible and to try to do everything as good as possible. But for sure, sometimes you need to be the father sometimes. You need to be the full professional cyclist and try to keep everything as simple as possible. And if there's a lot to do, I always try to do one after the other, not everything together. If I try to do this, I mostly get stressful. And then I'm not happy, and all the people are feeling that around me. So I just try to do steps by steps and working my to do list down. And what I-- as soon as racing is getting really, really intense, I really have-- I try also to-- the people around me to help me, that I really can focus on racing. But there is also times where I'm 100% the father, or 100% the husband. And then I'm maybe doing some compromises as an athlete, but that's life. I think everybody needs to do this. Nobody can be 24 hours just an athlete. And just find a good balance. That's important for life. But also, as an athlete, I think if you find the right balance, you can be successful. I hope that was helpful. I wish you all the best if you are also in this challenge, being an athlete, a father, a husband, and maybe much more. So good luck, and see you somewhere."

I am passionate about helping athletes reach their potential with the use of technology, tools, and resources. I find joy in working with motivated people, pushing ourselves to find out what's possible. I make sure to remain passionate and engaged with each athlete I work with.
 
Transcript: "What does passion mean to you? And where does your passion come from? How do you recognize it? I am very passionate about passion. I basically spent the last 25 years of my life, creating this world, where I get to work with motivated people and I get to be engaged with them. I get to live. At the sharp end of the high-performance stick, if you will, I work with one client at a time. I spend one to three hours with them and nobody that comes into our studios here. Doesn't want to be here. You don't end up in this room. Unless you want to be here. So I have the best job in the world. I get to work with people who are highly motivated and I get to find out what's possible not just for, you know, Pro Tour athletes and Iron Man Champions and professionals and Olympians. I get to find out what's possible with amateur athletes, and, and we get to push up against that using incredible technology and tools. And training and resources and and I am passionate about that and lucky that I get to pursue that passion. And I just make sure that for me I continue being engaged with each and every client that comes through the door each and every athlete. And make sure that that passion gets Spread back and forth that we feed off of each other and that we find the absolute best we can out of every athlete."

I got involved with helping rhinos after I was invited to go to South Africa in 1989. After seeing the country and meeting local cyclists, I became passionate about birds and bought land near Zimbabwe. Soon after, I realized that my land was a warzone due to poachers killing rhinos for their horns. Since then, I've been working tirelessly to save the rhinos and raise awareness about the situation.
 
Transcript: "Hello Suzanne. Well, that's a very good question. How did I get into helping rhinos? And I can tell you it all goes back to when I was first invited to go to South Africa back in 1989. I think it was Apartheid was not quite over and I turned it down because as a journalist, I couldn't be seen to be working in sport in a country that practiced apartheid. But within the year the cracks were on the wall and thankful. I got back to Later, and I saw the most beautiful country, full of beautiful people, and very keen cyclist. There were two and they'd ask me to commentate on an event called the August Pick and Pay cycling Tour. All this is the newspaper Pick and Pay the local retail outlet for for groceries and stuff and still is very much involved and they had something like 12,000 cyclists. Well, these days, they copied off of forty thousand cyclists. I think they expect me to know the name of every Rider. Taking part. Well, that led to my introduction to South Africa. Then I became passionately involved. First of all with the birds because I'm a bird watcher. And and now I'm a patient of birdlife South Africa and made friends with all of the bird people over there. Then I bought some land in the far north east of South Africa on the border with Mozambique and with Zimbabwe and I bought this land for a holiday home. I built the house very Remote, I always say it's a 8 kilometers inside the last friends, last fence, in South Africa. But what I realized within the year, I'd bought a house in a war zone, the battle against the poachers who were totally writing out the script. The rhinoceros at that time. There are about 12 and a half thousand still wild and there was some on our land and we saw the poaches not actually see them, but they took Rome. Mio. They also kill Juliet Romeo, took a little bit longer to be killed and then we were in the heart of poaching. And these guys heavily armed with AK-47, rifles, automatic machine guns, really. And also with them, we made friends with our ranges and it became a water. So we also got very involved in in hiring to how to save the Rhino and to involve the local people because at the end of the day, if they could kill a rhino and take it home. I give it to the syndicates who quickly got the Rhino out the country into places like China, Vietnam, Singapore, Philippines, Etc. Even the United States. They would have all the money. They would need to live a happy and normal life because it's still to this day. A lot of poverty amongst the African people. We're still battling. I'm still very much involved, and I give regular lectures on the Rhino situation. I'm going over in May to Peter. Harrisburg to give a talk to the kids to school kids. We've had books written in Vietnamese and distributed in the schools of Vietnam to explain that the magic potions of the Rhino does not exist. And all you're doing is killing a beautiful animal for no reason whatsoever. But the fact remains is some very powerful men out there and it's very corrupt as well who were Rolex watch watches and really are living the life of a very rich. Good, so that's how I got involved. I'll never give it up now. Sadly. We are down to about two and a half thousand rhinos left in the great Kruger Park. So, the battle is far from one, but there are bright spots as well. Those that have been saved. I've given birth to cars. And in April, I'm doing a big trip with mountain bikes in a famous game, reserve in South Africa, near Port, Elizabeth, and all the money raised by the people who are joining me. On that trip for six days, goes to continue the anti-poaching of the Rhino. We hope that's it."